Graduate school

See also

Research at the Department for Continuing Education

The Department has an active interdisciplinary research community, particularly with respect to public engagement and practitioner-based initiatives which build on the research interests of our academic staff and over 80 research students.

Public Policy Economics (Online)

Overview

All of us are affected by government policies, and governments place particular emphasis on economic policies. This course covers some of the most important questions about the aims and tools of economic policy. It will equip students to evaluate the economic arguments made about public policy choices.

All of us as citizens are affected by government policies, and governments place particular emphasis on economic policies. These are therefore prominent in political debate and in the news. Yet few people have the knowledge to be able to evaluate claims and counter-claims. This course covers some of the most important questions about the aims and tools of economic policy, ranging from competition policy and regulation to industrial policy, from public spending choices to incorporating behavioural psychology 'nudges' in policy decisions. It covers the role of the state versus the market, and the government's responsibility for sustainability. It will equip students to evaluate the economic arguments made about public policy choices.

Listen to Dr Diane Coyle talking about the course:

For information on how the courses work, and a link to our course demonstration site, please click here.

Programme details

1. The aims of public policy

Original purpose of economic policy

Economic policy in the twentieth century

The range of economic policies

Taxing, borrowing and spending

Rationales for economic policies

Market failure and government failure – the public choice revolution

The boundary of government and the market

2. Social welfare and growth

Social welfare versus growth

Growth and sustainability

Measuring welfare

Dashboard approaches to measurement

Distribution and social welfare

Inequality and social welfare

The well-being revolution in public policy

3. Market Failures

What are market failures?

Congestion externalities

How to tackle externalities

The Coase theorem

The limits of market solutions

Other institutions to solve market failures

4. State ownership, privatisation and regulation

Nationalisation and privatisation

What can go wrong? The example of UK rail privatisation

Regulating privatised industries

Deregulating taxis

Competition and regulation

5. Industrial policy

'Horizontal' industrial policy

The Asian model of industrial policy

Strategic innovation policies

Government's role in the internet and the World Wide Web

Government investment in R and D

6. Social choice and individual choice

The dangers of the ‘states versus markets’ perspective

Institutional approaches

Exit, voice and loyalty

Social capital and social norms

Positional goods

Institutions and public sector reform

Public service motivations

7. Social security

The growth of the welfare state

Inequality and redistribution

Minimum wages

Negative income tax and basic income

Pension provision

Social security in development

8. Behavioural public policy

What is behavioural economics?

Behavioural economics in public policy

Pension saving

Behavioural regulation

Behavioural economics in development

The ethics of nudging

9. Government Failure

Regulatory failures

Unintended consequences

Collective action and interest groups

Corruption

Project disasters

10. Evaluating public policies

Benefit-cost analysis

Contingent valuation and stated preference

Public value

Randomised control trials

Humility and complexity

Conclusions

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

Recommended reading

To participate in this course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following books:

Certification

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £10 fee.

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.

All students who successfully complete this course, whether registered for credit or not, are eligible for a Certificate of Completion. Completion consists of submitting both course assignments and actively participating in the course forums. Certificates will be available, online, for those who qualify after the course finishes.

IT requirements

This course is delivered online; to participate you must to be familiar with using a computer for purposes such as sending email and searching the Internet. You will also need regular access to the Internet and a computer meeting our recommended minimum computer specification.

Fees

Course aims

Provide an overview of a wide range of areas of applied microeconomics used in public policy, including relevant historical and international experience.

Discuss the role of economics in the political process; (iv) provide an introduction to the evaluation of economic policies. It will have some interdisciplinary elements, in touching on political economy and behavioural economics.

This course will enable participants to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the criteria for successful microeconomic public policy interventions.

Show understanding of the reasons for the variation in policy interventions over time and in different contexts.